A Kiwi man who was paralysed at the waist down after a freak surfing accident in Australia says he's determined to walk again.
Johnny Konings said his "worst nightmare" came true when he was surfing on the coast of Tweed Heads just south of Gold Coast last Tuesday.
It was the 31-year-old's "favourite" surf break, said his fiancée Charlie Gordon on a GoFundMe fundraiser page for his medical costs.
"We have a long road ahead, but he's alive, his sense of humour is still intact and there's a lot of positivity coming from this hospital ward," said Gordon.
He broke several ribs, vertebrae, twisted his spinal cord, and partially collapsed his lung, after wiping out from his first wave of the day and was tossed into a sandbar.
"[I] just didn't make the drop on the take-off," he told 7News.
Other surfers rushed to take him ashore, and he was then flown by helicopter to a Brisbane hospital.
Koning's recovery would be "the biggest journey of our lives", Gordon said, despite the surgery going "really well".
"Day by day those that know Johnny know he doesn't give up easy," she added.
Konings told 7News he got "tumbled around" by the wave and "knew straight away" he was seriously injured.
He said he'd wiped out before, like all surfers, and didn't know why "that one wave" was different.
"It was pretty much a jolt, just directly on my back. I knew something was out of position," Konings told 7News.
"After that one, I sort of realised I had no sensation and I was just groaning, because I was internally hurting."
Gordon said his prognosis was "not the best".
The pair got engaged six months ago and were about to get married when Konings' accident happened.
Determined to walk the aisle, he told 7News he was "definitely extremely determined to get back to my feet again".
"There really are no words. We are just so grateful to the people who have helped us."
